Tamil Nadu will soon come out with a renewable energy policy that will feature ambitious targets and several innovative features, M. Velmurugan, Executive Chairman, Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance Bureau, said on Thursday.

Addressing an Italian business mission, which is scouting for partnerships on sustainable urban infrastructure and energy, he said that the State, which had an installed capacity of 17000 MW, was looking to significantly scale up the share of renewable energy in its energy grid.

The event co-hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the B2B focus summits on the Italian concept of ‘LEGEM' representing the need for a planned and human-centric approach to urban planning and cutting across spheres of infrastructure, environment, governance, energy and architecture.

According to Mr. Velmurugan, while the State was aiming to add 4670 MW of power over the next 18 months, it also planned to generate another 5000 MW of wind energy over the next five years and bolster solar power by another 8000 MW.

Tamil Nadu offered plenty of opportunities for Italian business in energy infrastructure.

There was also huge demand for turbines, boilers and generators, he said.

Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte, Italian Ambassador to India, said the MoU on road infrastructure between Italy and India proposed during Minister of Road Transport Kamal Nath's visit to Rome last year was likely to be firmed up soon. Pointing out that by 2035, 50 per cent of the Indian population would be in cities and that at least 60 cities would house a population of over a million, the Ambassador said Italy was equipped to provide solutions for the urbanisation challenge.

Immense opportunities

Narinder Nayar, president, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the Chamber was willing to work with Tamil Nadu government and officials to identify sites to implement the Italian concept of ‘LEGEM.'

P.M. Sundararajan, member, CII Infra Panel, said India planned to invest about $1 trillion on infrastructure development to meet the demands of growth across sectors. The roll out of mega projects in the PPP mode offered immense opportunities for Italian business, he said.